Wrestlers You've Met

[Brad]

I wasnt sure where to start this thread but since it was that amazing thread in this forum about backstage stories that sparked the idea of the thread Im putting it here.

The title explains it all. Tell about your experiences with meeting wrestlers be they older generation or new.

Over the years I've met a fairly big group of guys. Most notable for me would be the king himself Jerry Lawler. Back when I was around 3 years old I met him right here in town. In those days he was my idol and my mother made sure to tell him how it was "lawler this, lawler that" even at that age I still remember being slightly embarassed but today I thank her because now, when I see him, he remembers me by name (first and last) which in my mind is absolutely amazing considering the amount of people he's sure to have met over the years. I've sat and had convos with him, he even sent me a birthday present one year.

Through him I've met/hung out with some others as well but I dont want to put all my "eggs" in one basket so to speak so I'll save those for later in this thread.

So tell me, who have you met?

[Zigzag]

I've been fortunate enough to meet with a bunch of wrestlers, whom have all been very nice and gracious. However, the coolest experience I ever had was meeting Rob Van Dam. It was the morning of Living Dangerously 2000, and it was my first organized signing event. I expected to get the bum's rush through the line. But to my pleasant surprise, he took the time to really talk with me. Shake my hand, ask my name, then repeat it as he told me it was nice to meet me. He signed everything I put in front of him (including an ECW figure and an N64 game cartridge), and we posed for a Polaroid together. As I left the store, I called out - "Nice to have met you Rob!" He looked up from what he was signing, and repeated the same thing, using my name. I was blown away, since I felt like I was catching up with an old friend, instead of just "meeting a wrestler".

[Drdoom]

I've met everybody.... All the WWE Guys from past signings and such. All the TNA guys backstage at indy shows i've done.

AJ Styles actually was demonstrating how Demolition punches backstage and used me as the "Dummy". Just starting out in the buisness at that point, and that was awesome! haha

Also got to talk to Chris Jericho about all our similarties including BTTF, Iron Maiden all the way up to we have both beaten Prince Ieukea lol.

[Hawks_NFC West Champions]

I've met John Cena, Kurt Angle, Booker T, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, The Dudley Boys, Ron Simmons, Taylor Wilde and some others.

Booker T was the nicest I have ever met. Really seemed happy to be there. AJ was the worst. It was after a show, and he was coming around the ring signing autographs and seemed pissed. Daniels was dancing and doing the Carlton after the show, and awesome to the fans.

[missedgehead]

Met too many to list but here are my favorites that I have met:

Vince McMahon-really cool. Very polite and appreciative
HHH- Great guy. Really sweet
HBK- awesome.
CHris Jericho- real sweetheart.
Edge- great guy. total sweetheart. Highly recommend meeting him
Christian- very polite
Kurt Angle- very cool
Ric Flair- quite but polite
The Big Show- real nice guy.
John Cena- too many times to count......totally awesome
Randy Orton- cool
Batista- quiet but pretty decent
Booker T- quiet, but polite

[BuckDenaro7: Elite Trader]

Man, thats a hard question. Out of my personal favs, here I go:

Flair: Very nice guy to meet.
HBK: Had a great pleasure to work a high budget indy show with him a few years ago.
Kane- same as HBK at the same show.
Y2J: believe it or not, I became good friends with him at a private signing.
Hawkins, Ryder, Baretta- Friends with them since the first day they trained to be wrestlers in NY.
DH Smith- Became friends when he did an indy show by me. Him and Teddy Hart became good family friends and stayed over my home for 2 nights.

Ive met and dealt with many more. Hundreds more.

[Brad]

Good stories here guys. Loving it, keep them coming. I'll share one of my more funny experiences.

I was standing backstage at a WWF event when I was about 16. I had Lawler on my left, Stacy Carter (The Kat) on my right. Tazz walks up to us and he's talking to me (very nice guy) I had this white t-shirt I was having the guys sign it, he saw it in my hand and asked if I wanted him to sign, to which I said sure. So he's starting to sign it and he asks me "Why didnt you get a WWF shirt?" My reply?......

"Uh, because they are black and you couldnt see the signatures?" He looked at me so funny, you could tell he felt intellectually- disabled. Jerry and Stacy were diying laughing...great moment.

[Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai]

I've been lucky to meet a ton of guys, from a combination of being a lifelong fan and also from being in the media business. Here are some of my more memorable experiences:


Capt. Lou Albano: Extremely nice guy.
Sgt. Slaughter: Brought my American flag into the ring with him in '88, then signed it for me after the match.
Jim Ross: Was backstage at a Raw, so he was very busy, but still made time to pose for my picture.
Gorilla Monsoon: This was backstage in like 1995. Nice, but didn't say a lot.
Shawn Michaels: He basically ran into me backstage at the same 1995 show in a rush to get from one room to another, and said "Hey, what's up?" Then kept walking. (This was the Raw in 1995 where he returned from an "injury" to beat King Kong Bundy.)
Tammy Sytch: At an ECW show in 1998. Very... flirty.
New Jack: Bought him a drink at a night club after an ECW show in '98.
Joey Styles: Stopped to chat with ECW fans outside the arena after a show. Very nice guy.
Sandman: Met him several times. He's exactly like you would imagine.
Tommy Dreamer: At an ECW show. Busy at the time I met him, but still friendly.
Little Guido/Nunzio: Actually approached ME backstage at an ECW show to introduce himself and thank me for coming. (Probably the classiest thing I've ever seen a "name" wrestler do, taking it upon himself to approach fans and personally thank them, one by one, for coming to the show.)
Justin Credible: I met him approximately five seconds before he got into a big blow-up argument with his girlfriend. Needless to say, we didn't get to talk much.
Dawn Marie: Complete sweetheart.
Terry Funk: Could not have been more open and kind. Actually gave me the phone number to the Double Cross Ranch so I could call for an interview (which I did, and it was the real number.)
Chris Adams: Was lucky enough to talk to him for a while, about a year before he died.
Ernie Ladd: He allowed me to pick his brain about just about everything he ever did.
Roddy Piper: Very kind person, but with just a hint of legit crazy.
Hulk Hogan: Actually met him at a UFC fight in Florida, along with Brooke and one of Brooke's friends. (Or was it Hulk's mistress? Or both?)
Undertaker: Met him during the "American Badass" days, which was perfect, because he was out of gimmick and willing to talk. He kept referring to Hawk and Animal (who were not present) as the "Roid Warriors."
Warlord: Met him recently under strange circumstances. He was working as a bodyguard for Kimbo Slice at an MMA fight. He was cordial to those who recognized him as "Warlord," but didn't seem to enjoy the attention much.
Lou Thesz: Had the honor of talking to him in 2001. Got the impression that he loved speaking with people that appreciated 'Old school,' and in fact, he talked my ear off for a very long time.
Nick Bockwinkel: Met him at a social event. He was more than a little tipsy, but he was very kind.
JBL: Met him at the same social event. Couldn't have been nicer to me. Comes across as a very bright guy.
Brian Adams: Very nice guy.
Ray Traylor: Ditto, but I didn't get to talk to him very long.
Curt Hennig: Was super nice. This was at the same social event as Bockwinkel, and both were pretty "happy" after a few drinks.
John Tenta: Met him at one of his indy shows in Sanford, Fla. in 2001. Invited us backstage and treated us like gold the whole night. Such a generous and kind person.
Typhoon/Tugboat/Shockmaster: Met him at the Tenta show. Not as nice, but wasn't a total jerk either.
Sable: Met her at the Tenta show. Was very kind.
Kevin Nash: Very nice in person. Incredibly tall, but everybody knows that.
Scott Hall: Total douche to everyone, even some of the other wrestlers. Even while Nash was being kind to people and shaking hands, Hall would flat-out tell people "No" and turn his back until they walked away. He even tried to pull Nash away from meeting people saying "C'mon, Kev, you don't have to talk to these guys..."
Jerry Lawler: Very nice, but also totally full of s***. Comes across as phony. Easy to see why he gets the reputation of always "working" people.
MVP: I was at they indy show where he worked his very first match in front of a crowd (as "Antonio Banks"). I met him that day. Nobody knew him yet, so very few fans even cared to meet him. Funny to look back on that now. I still remember talking to the promoter before the show, and he pointed MVP out and said "this is a new guy... we've been working with him in training. First match in front of a crowd tonight. Big guy, but very green."
Bobby Heenan: Spoke with him on the phone. Even in that situation, with no audience, he was still cracking one-liners.
Iron Sheik: My wife was with me when we met him. I told her "Hey honey... ask him about Hulk Hogan." Not knowing any better, she goes "What do you think of Hulk Hogan?" He ranted loudly for the next five minutes. Then he forgot to sign his name on the picture he was autographing for me, writing out this long message instead. I had to remind him to put his name on it (or it wasn't really an autograph).
Harley Race: Actually got on the same elevator with him after WrestleMania 24. Such a cool, random way to meet a legend.

[Deleted]

for me its

Mick Foley
Dudley Boys
Abyss
Taylor Wilde
Angelina Love

[samgrady]

All of the guys I have met recently at indy shows and autograph signings have been really cool. But lets go back to around October of 1991 when I was 15 years old. Me and 2 of my buddies walked up to this warehouse/flea market across from our neighborhood that was putting on its first wrestling show. We got there probably 3 hours early and probably had 10 dollars between the 3 of us(It was 10 to get in). The first 2 wrestlers to pull up were the headliners- Ivan Koloff and Junkyard Dog. I watched both of these guys on tv and I was suprised that they were not both in limos.I figured,hey, they are on TV, so they are multimillionares. I am also wondering why Ivan Koloff is being so cool to the three of us, since he is a Russian and he hates all Americans and wants to take over our country. Anyway, after about 10 minutes of talkin to the JYD and Ivan outside the flea market(the guy had not shown up to unlock the door yet), I ask JYD for his autograph. He tells me to wait a few minutes. 15 more minutes goes by and I ask him again. This time JYD looks at me and says"motherf-er I told you to wait a motherf'in minute you dumb motherf-er" My friends cracked up laughing and I don't think I had ever been more embarrased in my life. We got let in by one of the guys running the show,because my other friend who was a little older knew him from going to other wrestling shows around charleston. I learned later on that you had to PAY 5 bucks to get JYDs autograph at intermission. I still did not understand that since I thought he was a multimillionare and all. My 2 friends still crack on me to this day about JYD cussing me out a good one. Anyway I look back now and understand why I never got that autograph, heck I did not even have a pencil or paper.

[wwfepenguin]

Tommy Dreamer- Met him at a GYM, Very Nice.
Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka- Meet him at a indy event talked with him for good five minutes
Captain Lou- I was only 9, but he bought me Ice Cream

[LtD73]

Angle, AJ, Joe, Storm, Abyss, Rhino, LAX, Doug Williams, Petey Williams, Sonjay Dutt, Primo, Mark Henry

probably more tna wrestlers but i cant remember because the show wasd 2 years ago

[Warrior82]

I have met

Greg Valentine
Hacksaw Jim Duggan
JYD
The Big Show
Al Snow
HBK

Just all at various moments. all very polite and I got all of there autographs but Shawn Michaels.

Oh, and I met Matt and jeff Hardy at a Hunington Blizzards Hockey game and got their autos

[Matt]

The only wrestler i have ever met is Dawn Marie who I have met like a thousand times.

[juicewinslow]

May 20, 2010 14:06:42 GMT -5 @samgrady said:

All of the guys I have met recently at indy shows and autograph signings have been really cool. But lets go back to around October of 1991 when I was 15 years old. Me and 2 of my buddies walked up to this warehouse/flea market across from our neighborhood that was putting on its first wrestling show. We got there probably 3 hours early and probably had 10 dollars between the 3 of us(It was 10 to get in). The first 2 wrestlers to pull up were the headliners- Ivan Koloff and Junkyard Dog. I watched both of these guys on tv and I was suprised that they were not both in limos.I figured,hey, they are on TV, so they are multimillionares. I am also wondering why Ivan Koloff is being so cool to the three of us, since he is a Russian and he hates all Americans and wants to take over our country. Anyway, after about 10 minutes of talkin to the JYD and Ivan outside the flea market(the guy had not shown up to unlock the door yet), I ask JYD for his autograph. He tells me to wait a few minutes. 15 more minutes goes by and I ask him again. This time JYD looks at me and says"motherf-er I told you to wait a motherf'in minute you dumb motherf-er" My friends cracked up laughing and I don't think I had ever been more embarrased in my life. We got let in by one of the guys running the show,because my other friend who was a little older knew him from going to other wrestling shows around charleston. I learned later on that you had to PAY 5 bucks to get JYDs autograph at intermission. I still did not understand that since I thought he was a multimillionare and all. My 2 friends still crack on me to this day about JYD cussing me out a good one. Anyway I look back now and understand why I never got that autograph, heck I did not even have a pencil or paper.

lol. The JYD part is awesome.

[Deleted]

Only this guy, Greg Bownds, otherwise known as TNT:



An Australian indy wrestler, probably the most well-travelled, and is a promoter as well...great guy, have seen him at AWF shows and also metal gigs...

[Grumpyoldman]

Larry Sharpe- Very nice guy. Always smiling.
King Kong Bundy- Hilarious. Was hitting on my then-girlfriend. I met him a few months later & he remembered my name. Then he asked "Where's the chick with the monster rack?"
Jimmy Snuka- Very quiet, very nice but seems to be out of it.
Tony Atlas- Had him sign my 1984 WWF calendar. He flipped to the picture of The Invaders & said "That's the motherf*cker who killed Brody". I wanted to ask about it, but thought it would be inappropriate. Seems like I kind of wrecked his day by bringing the calendar. Very nice guy.
Terry Funk- Met him 3 times, always a class act. Actually hears what you have to say, doesn't rush you. Very appreciative. I asked him to sing the song about Lucy (which is in his book), but he got kind of embarrassed & said he promised his wife he'd never sing it in public again. Very cool guy.
New Jack- Met him after an ECW show. I handed him the program & asked him to sign it. He says "Turn around!" I thought he was going to kick my @ss, but used my back to sign it. Cool guy.
Blue Meanie- Very cool. I met him in his skinny days when he was dating Jasmine St Claire. We talked about the Atkins diet for a while. Seemed really happy.
Danny Doring- Seemed like he wanted to be somewhere else. Nice guy, though.
Roadkill- Stayed in character the whole time. Very cool guy.
Ox Baker- Likes to "playfully" threaten you. He told me if I didn't buy an autograph, he'd break my legs. Very cool guy.
Taz- Stayed in character, shook my left hand after some hesitation. Got an awesome picture of him putting me in the Tazzmission. Need to get him to sign that next time I see him.
Yokozuna- He was already out of the WWF by then. Looked kind of depressed. He was sitting on 2 chairs at once.
Nova- Very quiet, but real nice.
Francine- Flirty. Very nice.
Beaulah- Didn't say a word.
Daffney- Met her on Halloween & she was dressed as Wonder Woman. Such a sweetheart.
Gary Hart- Met him the day before he died in PA. He was talking non-stop to Skandor Akbar.
Skandor Akbar- Was talking to Gary Hart the whole time. Still looks the same. Nice guy.
Wild Bill Irwin- Laid back, very cool. Very nice guy.
Buddy Roberts- Didn't recognize him at first due to the cancer, but a very appreciative person.
Steve Dr Death Williams- So damn nice. I found it odd that I was meeting 2 wrestlers with no voice boxes. Thanked everyone & didn't rush you at all.
Missy Hyatt- Flirty & carefree. She showed up 30 minutes late (typical Missy!) Sweet woman.
Hollywood John Tatum- Very quiet, very nice guy. Looks great.
Sal E. Graziano- Met him at a New Years Eve party before he was a wrestler. He saw that I carried a picture of Roddy Piper in my wallet & showed me that he carried one of Mr. Perfect. He was drinking pitchers of beer like they were nothing. Great guy.
Mick Foley- Met him on several occasions. Very nice. Always cracking jokes. Very cool guy.
Afa & Sika- They scared the crap out of me as a kid. They looked the same- intimidating. Very quiet.
Captain Lou Albano- Was in great spirits. Was drinking a bottle of red wine the whole time. Very talkative. Also spouting out one liners.
Ric Flair- Very quiet & a class act. I was actually in awe of meeting him.
Tully Blanchard- Also quiet, told me to read a bible. Still has those evil eyebrows.
Ole Anderson- Looks like he could still slap dry paint off a brick wall. Old school tough, & a nice guy.
JJ Dillon- Also quiet & nice. I think he & the rest of the horsemen were nursing hangovers.
Arn Anderson- Quiet, nice. Sad to see him hold a pen in his bad hand.
Iron Sheik- Totally nuts, but a pisser. Had me cracking up & then yelled at me for laughing at him.
Tugboat- Likes to smile. Bigger than he looks on TV. Very nice guy.
Stone Cold Steve Austin- Didn't say a word, the signing was rushed.
Roddy Piper- Best EVER! Was cracking jokes, telling stories & was a bit crazy.
Virgil- Wouldn't let go of my hand when he shook it. Nice guy. Very talkative. Likes to shill his stuff.

There are others, but they're slipping my mind at the time. I never had a bad experience with wrestlers at a signing. But sometimes the staff, wrestler's helpers or annoying fans got on my nerves.

[Eat Defeat.]

Well I've met quite a few but I had wanted to meet Gail Kim for years and I finally got it.

It was probably the Best day of my life, I was very shy and I think she spotted that and she became very chatty with me, asking how I was etc. I got an autograph and picture with her then I gave her a box of chocolates which surprised her, she was like "oh! thank you hon". then the next moment my heart just melted because she then gave me a big hug! A moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

[Brad]

On the same night that I met Taz I also got to sit down and talk to HBK. This was before he got cleaned up, it was late 2000 but he was a very nice guy and I had about a 30 minute convo with him. Raven was sitting not too far from us munching on celery sticks (found that to be funny)

Whoever it was that said that about Jerry I'm surprised. He's always been totally cool with me and I never got the vibe of him being phony.

[Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai]

May 20, 2010 23:54:04 GMT -5 Brad said:

Whoever it was that said that about Jerry I'm surprised. He's always been totally cool with me and I never got the vibe of him being phony.

That was me. I mean, Lawler was very nice to me too... don't get me wrong. But he would take it to the point where you were pretty sure he was blowing smoke up your ass.

I compare that to someone like Terry Funk, who was the complete opposite. Terry Funk comes across totally genuine. It doesn't seem like he's acting when he's kind to people.